Janja Garnbret with new gold medal

Janja Garnbret with new gold medal, three more Slovenians in the final.

Slovenian sport climbers have once again shown at the World Cup competition in lead discipline that they are always among those fighting for medals. In Innsbruck, as many as four qualified for the final, and among them Janja Garnbret performed the best. Just like in the qualifications and semifinals, she was the best in the final too.



22-year-old Janja Garnbret, the first favorite for the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, has shown after excellent qualifications and semifinals, also in the final, that she is the best among the best. Garnbret was the only finalist who climbed the 15-meter wall from the first to the last hold.

Janja, who last won in lead two years ago, was even more pleased with her first win in lead this year. "It's true that I trained well all the time, but until the competition I never know what shape I'm in. I knew I was well prepared, but I had some concerns. I climbed the qualifications and semifinals well, in the final I enjoyed it. I climbed smartly without hesitation."



Before the last move, Janja glanced a little towards the top, but when she saw she had enough time, she concentrated and completed the route to the end.



Before the Olympics, Janja will also compete in speed and lead in Switzerland in Villars and on Saturday in bouldering. "Now I see that my form is excellent and that I am well prepared," concluded the best Slovenian sport climber.



Two more Slovenians competed in the final, Vita Lukan took sixth place, Lučka Rakovec was eighth. Second place went to American Brooke Raboutou, third was Japanese Akiyo Noguchi.



In the men's competition, we had one Slovenian finalist, young Luka Potočar. The youth lead champion took fourth place at last year's only senior lead competition in Briançon, today he finished the competition in Innsbruck in seventh place. "In the semifinals I showed the best climbing of this competition. In the final I expected a harder route. Maybe I felt too good and then my foot slipped. There will be more competitions and I will be able to show how good I am."



In the men's competition, after a big mistake by the first favorite Czech Adam Ondra, the home climber Jakob Schubert celebrated, second was Italian Stefano Ghisolfi and third Sascha Lehmann from Switzerland.



Slovenian selector Gorazd Hren was satisfied with the performances of his charges. "With the girls it turned out very well, all were in the semifinals and three qualified for the final, which is top-notch. In the final, Lučka and Vita unfortunately did not show that they trained very well. Fortunately, we have Janja, who made another top performance today. She was also very happy, as she hadn't won gold in lead for two years. With the boys, three out of five were in the semifinals. Too bad for Domen that his semifinal performance didn't go well. Luka indicated in training that he can compete with the best and his qualification for the final is more than deserved."



Mia Krampl missed the final of the best eight with 11th place. Lana Skušek finished the competition in 16th place, Tjaša Slemenšek rounded off the Slovenian semifinals appearances in 26th place.



Martin Bergant took 13th place in the semifinals, Domen Škofic finished the competition in 17th place. Žiga Zajc and Milan Preskar ended their appearances after the first round of the competition.



The competition could be watched live by accredited journalists and climbers, so there was at least a bit of loud cheering again, but as Gorazd Hren added, the competitors and coaches can hardly wait for a larger number of spectators. On Saturday, there will be a bouldering competition in Innsbruck. Janja Garnbret, Katja Debevec and Anže Peharc have secured the boulder semifinals.